Videogame Cosplay Interview: Jen Amador as Cammy (Part 1)

January 30, 2012January 30, 2012 Lunar Angel 1 Comment

Today, I bring to you another Videogame Cosplay Interview. This time I would like to feature one of the sexiest fighters in Street Fighter: Cammy White. Cosplaying as this tough blonde is one of Florida’s young and talented cosplayers: Jen Amador.

Jen is a 19 years old lifelong Floridian and works as a costume designer and in everyone’s favorite gaming store Gamestop. She has been into gaming since the day she was born as she had two older brothers and many cousins she was close to that trained her in the skills of the art of the two thumbs. Jen’s first gaming experiences were with Tekken 2 and Super Mario 64. Jen now enjoys fighting games and RPGs, with her favorite game being Final Fantasy 8.

Jen got into costuming in 2007 after visiting her first anime/videogame convention. After falling in love with the environments and people that attended she knew she must be a part of the cosplay experience and she debuted as a cosplayer that very same year. But she made her very first costume long before then, at 5 years old she made a catwoman costume. It was just meant to be you can say.

Cosplay has been a big part of her life as she has made friends because of it that have brought her to love the hobby/lifestyle even more. She has even found romance in this world, and everyone enjoys having a partner that recognizes this great hobby. But now I hope that you all enjoy this interview I had with Jen as much as I have.

1. As a female cosplayer, why did you take an interest in this character and how close does the character resemble your personality?

Cammy White is one of my favorite female video game characters of all time. She’s a very strong character who won’t take sass from anyone…unless you’re Bison, but that doesn’t count. I do think we share some personality in that we are both very blunt, determined, and we love cats. She loves cats, my favorite win quote of hers is “I’m thinking about adopting a cat when I get home” hah.

2. What initially drew you to play the game she is from?

Well I always loved fighting games and my brothers playing a lot of Street Fighter. Whenever they played Super Street Fighter II I always wanted to play as “the pretty blonde girl”.

3. Did the character’s outfit influence your choice in cosplaying her? What was the main draw toward choosing this outfit?

Well it took a lot of working out on my end before I felt confident enough to rock the thong leotard but out of all of Cammy’s outfits I always loved her Shadaloo outfit. I just love how all the pieces look together, the leotard, the tie, and the garrison cap. I plan on eventually doing other versions of Cammy as well.

4. Why do you feel this character is special to the game she is from? How would you feel if the game did not have that character in it?

Cammy was the second female character added to the Street Fighter series and I feel that she appealed to more female gamers. She’s an attractive British fighter with a strong personality and I really don’t know if I would’ve played Street Fighter as much as I do if she weren’t in it.

5. Is she your favorite videogame character? If not who is?

She’s definitely one of my favorite of all time but I have a few. Rinoa and Vanille from the Final Fantasy series are definitely up there, as well as Garrus from Mass Effect and Zelda from The Legend of Zelda.

6. What drove you to put in the work to make this character’s outfit and how did you go about making it?

Well, love for the character is what drove me. I made it by buying a stretch knit fabric and drafting a pattern for the leotard by hand in order for it to fit me as accurately as possible. I bought a 50 inch blonde wig and styled it and hand painted the markings on my tights with a stencil I made.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this interview soon!

Videogame Cosplay Interview: Brittany Jung as Zelda (Part 2)

December 29, 2011December 29, 2011 Lunar Angel

On my last post i started interviewing Florida cosplayer: Brittany Jung, as she cosplayed as Zelda from The Legend of Zelda. For the 1st part of this interview CLICK HERE.

Now we will continue our interview as we learn about Brittany’s experiences as one of the most well known and beloved Nintendo Princesses of all time: Princess Zelda.

7. What do you personally feel when you are portraying the character and why do you choose to cosplay her?

“When I portray her, I feel like I have to look just as gorgeous as her and as graceful! I choose to cosplay her because I wanted to make a childhood dream come true. I wanted to be her, just like very little girl wanted to be a Princess. I do love her character design more than any other Nintendo design. xD”

8. What are people’s reactions to you when you are in costume?

“I feel like I get some attention when in costume. Every convention I go to I get a lot of photos from others as well as make friends. I also like to act in character while in cosplay as well. I feel like it makes peoples days as well as making mine.”

9. What was the hardest part about bringing this charcter to life?

“The hardest part about bringing her to life is just trying to portray her in photos. I wish I had more but I want to show that Zelda is a strong girl character and can kick some butt!”

10. Did you ever get any special recognition for this costume?

“I did get a photoshoot with a really awesome photographer for free by the beach in LA. But other than that, not really hahaha.”

11. What videogame character would you like to portray next?

“Hmm. Right now I am not sure. I would love to work on Twilight Princess Zelda next or get started on my Dream Drop Distance version of Sora.”

12. Lastly is there anything you would like to convey to the readers?

“Sure! I always love to encourage others to cosplay or keep cosplaying if you are! Everything is possible no matter what level you are on. Everyone can cosplay no matter gender or size! Do what you love to do and keep at all your dreams and hopes.”

If you would like to see more of Brittany Jung’s art and cosplay make sure to check out her deviant art account HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this interview, if you have any cosplays you would want to see be sure to comment below, or if you want to compliment Brittany please leave a comment.

Videogame Cosplay Interview: Brittany Jung as Zelda (Part 1)

December 26, 2011December 29, 2011 Lunar Angel

Today we will be continuing our Videogame Cosplay Interview series, today we have a Florida cosplayer known as Brittany Jung as she cosplays Zelda from The Legend of Zelda. She is a 22 year old cosplayer that studies photography, she aspires to one day run her own costume photography studio. She started gaming around 6 or 7 years old, playing the original Legend of Zelda back on the NES. Now she enjoys RPGS, action/adventure, and fighting games. Her favorite game is Kingdom Hearts.

Brittany first got into costuming at 8 years old when she dressed as Zelda for Halloween. It was her first costume so it did not really look too much like the zelda we know and love. But as you can see Brittany has improved greatly since then and is now making many wonderful costumes. She shows these costumes off at local conventions, which she first started attending in 2003. She has made many wonderful friends at these conventions as well as finding a boyfriend to share in her cosplay hobby. She is now an active participant in Metrocon‘s (a large FL convention) Chess Match, which has various videogame and anime characters fighting it out in a live stage show.

Now that we know a little bit about this great cosplayer, let us now find out more about her beautiful Zelda cosplay:

1. As a female cosplayer, why did you take an interest in this character and how close does the character resemble your personality?

“I feel like Zelda is a strong Female character. I like to find stronger Female characters to cosplay as. I don’t see her as a damsel in distress as much as others may see her. I am not very close to Zelda personality wise except for the kindness and caring aspect of her. I am not very “princess-like” at all! I am very much a tomboy.”

2. What initially drew you to play the game she is from?

“I think, if I can remember that far back, I was drawn to it because my cousins were playing it. I wanted to play it myself and so my parents bought it for me. I spent hours trying to beat it and I was surprisingly good at it for being so young! It’s really special to me because it connects me back with childhood. I used to pretend to be Zelda when we played those little grade-school games.”

3. Did the character’s outfit influence your choice in cosplaying her? What was the main draw toward choosing this outfit?

“I love her outfit! The design is so complex as simple as it looks. There are so many interesting designs and I love that.”

4. What kind of female videogame characters would you like to cosplay?

“Hmm.. I have wanted to cosplay as Kos-Mos before, but I would also like to cosplay as Princess Peach as well as Twilight Princess Zelda.”

5. Is she your favorite videogame character? If not who is?

“My favorite video game character is Sora from Kingdom Hearts. I connect with him a lot. He is honestly the male version of me.”

6. What drove you to put in the work to make this character’s outfit and how did you go about making it?

“The love for the series puts a huge drive in everything that I do when it comes to cosplay. Sometimes I had to walk away from it it got frustrating and I wanted it to be perfect! The whole costumes involves everything from craft foam to resin. The armor pieces and crown is made out of craft foam and clay covered in resin. It’s more of a pain to wear since I can’t really move in it all that well. That’s probably why the game Zelda cannot really move either, hahah. The front panel is all embroidered. And the dress was just made out of a basic dress pattern and had the lines sewn on which was much more painful that it looks. The ears are made of latex and were bought as well as my Ocarina, which actually plays! The whole process took about 3 months to complete.”

Stay tuned because later this week will be part 2

of my interview with Brittany Jung as Zelda.

Comment below if you would like to see more of Brittney’s cosplays

Holiday Matruri: Photos and Video

December 22, 2011December 23, 2011 Lunar Angel

After having attended Holiday Matsuri, a holiday themed convention, I am proud to present to you some lovely scenes from the convention. As well as the Holiday Runway Costume Contest where people showed off there Christmas cosplays.

What better way to spread the holiday cheer then having a Chobits Christmas?

Even Dr.Who is in on the Christmas spirit.

Many anime fans love to come up with their own creations to share in the spirit.

Santa-chu is here to give all the good boys and girls toys this season.

Let’s just hope he learned his lesson last time and lets our cosplayers enjoy christmas.

Even royalty was present at this convention.

And below you will find Holdiay Matsuri’s Cosplay contest I hope you enjoy it:

Videogame Cosplay Interview: Julie Beliveau as Lightning from Final Fantasy 13

December 18, 2011December 20, 2011 Lunar Angel

In our continuing videogame cosplay series, we bring to you Julie Beliveau as Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. This 22 year old beauty has lived in Florida nearly all of her life and is a retail associate and attends the Academy of Art University, hoping to achieve her bachelors degree in computer animation. She has been gaming since the Mario bros came on the scene, back in the days of 2-D gaming. She loves RPGS for their rich worlds and characters. She is also known to play MMORPGs as well as the occasional first person shooter. She started getting into costuming when Final Fantasy X came around. Yuna’s costume was what inspired her, before then she loved a lot of character designs, her pseudo kimono sent her right over the edge. She loves cosplay but has friends both in and outside of this world and it has not hindered her social life in any way. Julie was recognized by one of Japan’s top cosplay magazines, Cosmode, this is a rare honor for an American. This makes interviewing Julie Beliveau even more special.

1. As a female cosplayer, why did you take an interest in this character and how close does the character resemble your personality?

“Lightning attracted me from the very moment she hit the media. She’s strong, athletic and had a very interesting design. Her outfit is very clean cut and not extremely futuristic. I’m currently playing through the game, so I’ve had a chance to meet her. We’re both stubborn, strong willed, and mature beyond our age. I can really connect with her.”

2. What initially drew you to play the game?

“I’ve always been a loyal fan of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XIII is much different though from its predecessors. Its set in a unique semi-futuristic world known as Cocoon, placed above a world with harsh terrain that’s crawling with nothing but monsters known as Gran Pulse. One of Square-Enix‘s tag lines for the game in the beginning was, “She was sent to destroy the world.” it cued my interest because Lightning didn’t appear to be a destroyer of any world.”

3. Did the character’s appearance affect your opinion of the game?

“Oh yes, every thing about her appearance was really attracting, even with her light pink hair. She really brought something new to the Final Fantasy table in regards to main characters. I find her to be a refreshing change to the series. She is all about kicking ass, and she doesn’t care to take names. She doesn’t battle in bikinis or scantily clad outfits, she’s a tough girl.”

4. Would you have played the game if this character was played by a male equivalent?

“Most likely, I’ve always been a loyal fan of the Final Fantasy series.”

5. Is she your favorite video game babe? If so why, if not who is?

“Lightning is now my #1 favorite. My past #1 was KOS-MOS from the Xenosaga series. I really like the stronger female characters, because I can relate more to them. I’m not a damsel in distress type of girl after all. (laughs)”

6. What drove you to put in the work to make this character’s outfit and how did you go about making it?

“I had taken a year off from cosplaying after I moved in with my boyfriend, Quen. I wanted to get back into cosplaying as well as con-going and I wanted to make a re-entrance with something really awesome and very detailed. My fellow cosplayers pushed me to work on Lightning, and so I did. It took me three long months of work to make sure I had every detail in place. Afterwards I spent an additional two weeks updating the costume to be more accurate. I made the costume with materials that I thought closely resembled what was used in her outfit. It also included a lot of hardware work, of which I had never done before. As well as some minor leather working. The new shoulder armor that I made (Which I’m really proud of) actually has battery operated electroluminescent yellow wire in it to make it glow. I spent a lot of time studying the costume, down to every pocket, zipper and belt, and in the end I’m extremely satisfied with how it turned out. It just goes to show you that the more time and effort you put into your work the more it shows.”

7. What do you personally feel when you are portraying the character and why do you choose to cosplay her?

“In any cosplay, I still feel like myself. Except for when I’m posing for photos. I put my mind into what I like to call ‘Lightning’ mode. In this mode I’m capable of mustering up a serious or fierce facial expression like the character. It really works well for the photos. I try to think about being in her shoes and doing what she does. I chose her over the other characters because of some of our similarities. Not only that, I really loved her weapon, a transforming gunblade.”

For the rest of this interview, follow thisLINK, which will take you to the full interview over at Examiner.com. Be sure to leave a comment.